This one-year, experiential training program is designed to help participants develop a sustainable daily meditation practice and mindfulness of body, mind and emotions during everyday activities and relationships. Some meditation experience would be helpful but it is not essential. We will engage the modalities of meditation, yoga, sensing, and mindfulness of activities, and explore practice themes in dyads, triads and small groups. All of these methods will enable us to apply the principles of Zen Buddhist practice in our daily lives at home and in the marketplace.

The emphasis will be cultivating meditation postures, body awareness, and the ability to bring awareness to our daily activities through a series of mindful exercises. These practices will be continued throughout all three trimesters.

Through attention to the habits of thought and feelings, actions and reactions in our own being and in our interpersonal interactions, we will explore how these arise in everyday situations and learn ways to practice with them.

If you have any questions about financial assistance, work-exchange, payment arrangements or any other matters related to the application process, please call Kim Koei Hart in the City Center office at 415-354-0386 or email kim.koeihart@sfzc.org.

Related Bio(s):

Ryushin Paul Haller (Urban Temple Dharma Teacher)Ryushin Paul Haller is a dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman and has taught at Zen Center for over 20 years. He served as abiding abbot at City Center from 2003 to 2012, and remains at City Center as urban temple dharma teacher. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he teaches throughout the US and Europe and has led mindfulness programs to assist with depression and recovery. Paul has also taught in prisons and has a long involvement with the Zen Hospice Project. He has been practicing yoga for 25 years.

Keiryu LiÍn ShuttRev. Keiryu LiÍn Shutt is a dharma heir of Zenkei Blanche Hartman. Born into a Buddhist family in Vietnam, she began her meditation practice in the Insight tradition. She was a founding member of the Buddhists of Color in 1998. Her Zen trainings began at Tassajara and then continued monastically in Japan and Vietnam for a year. While she has placed her trust and faith in Soto Zen, she continues to enjoy the deep silence of Insight practices and has completed retreats in America and Thailand. LiÍn is grateful to have right livelihood as a social worker. Please go to AccessToZen.org for info on her sitting group and other events.

Konin Melissa CardenasKonin began the practice of Zen meditation in 1987, and was ordained a Soto Zen priest in Japan by Sekkei Harada Roshi in 2007. She lived at Tassajara and City Center for several years. Shosan Victoria Austin is her senior practice leader. Currently Konin is the leader of the SFZC group Dharma en EspaŮol, and co-chair of the SFZC Cultural Awareness and Inclusivity Committee. She works as a spiritual care counselor at Pathways Home Health and Hospice in Oakland, California. She is also an amateur calligrapher and sumi-e painter.

Zachary Smith (Anshi Daigi)Zachary Smith, Anshi Daigi, has been practicing since 1993, took jukai in 1995, and was shuso under Abbot Paul Haller in Fall of 2007. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai group in North Beach. In addition to his involvement with Zen, Zachary is a husband and father (of 4), an engineer, a musician, a bike fanatic, and an avid but mediocre poet. He may be the only person in the history of Zen in the West to have interrupted a residential practice period to tour with a rock band.

Kyoshin Wendy LewisKyoshin Wendy Lewis has been practicing at Zen Center since 1987. She was ordained by Sojun Mel Weitsman and completed Dharma Transmission with Eijun Linda Cutts. She received a Masters of Theology from the University of San Francisco. She is Dean of the Zen Center School in the Central Abbess/Abbot's Department.